Fasteners such as nails, screws, bolts and the like are well known in the art, and may be used in a variety of applications, including for attaching brackets and other items to a substrate. One exemplary fastener is a nail or pin useful for insertion into a substrate such as a wall, ceiling, or other surface. A hammer or an automated driving tool such as a pneumatic or powder-actuated tool may be used to drive the nail.
In such operation, the angle of incidence of the fastener into the underlying substrate can be important to the holding power of the fastener. Often, it is desired to achieve an insertion angle substantially close to 90°. To accomplish this, the fastener should be generally transverse to the substrate surface when it receives a driving force from a tool. If the driving tool includes a barrel for impacting the fastener with the driving force, it may also be desirable to insert the fastener into the barrel and have it held therein. The driving tool can then be located at a desired location for driving the fastener into the substrate. When this is accomplished, “one-handed” operation of the tool may be practiced wherein an operator is not required to hold the fastener in place for operation on by the tool.
It is known to use a holder for holding the fastener head in the tool barrel. For example, a thin ring with outwardly extending pliable fingers may be positioned on the fastener shaft. The fingers of the ring engage the wall of a tool barrel when the fastener is inserted therein to help center the fastener within the barrel.
Known positioner rings fail to solve several problems in the art, however. For example, known positioner ring fingers may fail to engage the tool barrel with satisfactory firmness or friction, with the result that insufficient guidance is provided when the fastener is driven into a substrate. An undesirable variance of angle of insertion can result. This can lead to diminished fastener holding power, to bent or deformed fasteners, or even to fastener failure. Also, different diameter rings may be needed for fasteners of different diameters, and different sized fingers are required for use with different diameter tool barrels. This results in a number of different positioner rings being required, lowering the efficiency of their manufacture. Accordingly, needs and problems remain unresolved in the art.